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Baseball, softball plan new strategy for Olympic vote

Without a commitment to have Major League Baseball players participate in the Games, supporters of a joint bid for baseball and softball are selling other aspects of their sports as the International Olympic

Without a commitment from Major League Baseball players to participate in the Games, supporters of a joint bid for baseball and softball are selling other aspects of their sports as they prepare for the International Olympic Committee vote in September.

The IOC executive board last week picked baseball-softball, squash and wrestling from a list of eight contenders to be part of the vote that decides the single spot for the 2020 and 2024 Olympics.

Squash and wrestling were expected to make the cut. Baseball and softball, however, were thought by many to face an uphill climb based on comments from IOC president Jacques Rogge.

Leaders of the baseball-softball bid now must convince global voters the sports belong in the Games.

"If the only option from the IOC's perspective is that we need a Dream Team," said Paul Seiler, executive director and CEO of USA Baseball, "then that's a challenge."

Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig told an Associated Press Sports Editors group in April that he saw no possibility of owner support for stopping the regular season during the Olympics. MLB spokesperson Mike Teevan told the Des Moines Register this week that the stance remains unchanged.

Ken Kendrick, managing general partner for the Arizona Diamondbacks, underscored that the idea would be a near-impossible sell to owners.

"I don't see the ability for us to change that basic model of moving major league players out of competition and into the Olympics," Kendrick said. "The only way to do it is to interrupt the season. As important as we all see the Olympics to be — I'm personally a big fan because I love the spirit it creates in our country and across the world — I can't really see stopping the season for an extended period of time.

"I certainly recognize that other sports, most notably the NBA, have done it and have created a positive experience for the players and the NBA itself, but there's a difference. The players are out of season during the Olympic competition."

ESPN baseball analyst Jayson Stark said supporters of the Olympic bid will need to hunt for other options. "None of the (MLB) solutions are palatable to both baseball people looking for a payday and the IOC looking for the greatest athletes in the sport to show up," Stark said.

One alternative for baseball-softball is to sell its other merits.

Seiler said the combined bid was crafted so baseball and softball would leave essentially the same "footprint" on the Olympics.

Baseball made its debut as a medal sport in 1992 and remained in the Olympics through 2008. In past Games, it featured eight teams in a true round-robin — with four days of competition, an off day, three more days of games, and another off day before the semifinals and finals. Add a day for practice and opening ceremonies, and it stretched across 13 days.

Since the IOC caps the number of athletes in the village at 10,500, bid organizers forged a plan to keep the impact the same while bringing in another gender. The eight teams would be split into two four-team divisions that would play each other once. Winners advance to the semifinals and finals. If there's no off-day, the schedule could be reduced to six days.

Baseball would compete first since the teams would require a grass infield at the shared diamond, Seiler said. Once baseball finished, the grass could be removed, bases moved in and softball could begin.

The baseball team, in theory, could hand over its keys to rooms in the Olympic Village as softball arrived, meaning the teams wouldn't overlap — keeping credential numbers and lodging requirements the same.

"It sounds cliché, but you get two (sports) for the price of one," Seiler said. "I've heard the term 'marriage of convenience.' I'm not sure I buy that. It's an intelligent partnership, that's what it is."

Seiler deferred questions about the importance of MLB players to the baseball-softball bid to the new international governing body called the World Baseball-Softball Confederation. One argument he made is that the players on the U.S. team often are on the verge of stardom.

USA Baseball sent a team filled with double- and triple-A prospects plus one college player — San Diego State's Stephen Strasburg — to the 2008 Olympics. Strasburg (Washington Nationals), Dexter Fowler (Colorado Rockies) and Trevor Cahill (Arizona Diamondbacks) are three of the prominent current big leaguers who played on that squad.

"Is it quite the Dream Team in basketball?" Seiler said. "Probably not, but the talent is incredibly high."

Seiler said, too, that the discussion often is framed from a U.S. perspective — and the IOC often considers things more globally.

"This isn't all about the U.S. We didn't even qualify in 2004," he said. "What about Cuba? What about Japan? What about Korea? What about the Netherlands? It's not all focused on the United States — it's the growth internationally.

"At the end of the day, the softball side of this is critically important, too. What about the next Jennie Finch? What about that athlete's opportunity?"

Paola Boivin of the Arizona Republic contributed to this story. Hamilton and Miller write for the Des Moines Register.